Apple and Google are facing another appearance with politicians to explain their location tracking practices and policies for the iPhone and Android-based smartphones. Now Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan contacted both companies on Monday seeking a meeting, according to the St. Louis Business Journal.
Illinois now investigating Apple, Google mobile privacy
The meeting request follows reports that Apple’s iPhone tracks user locations, and stores that data on their phone and computer in unencrypted files. It appears that Apple isn’t collecting the logs from user’s computers, but Google is apparently gathering location data from Android-based devices more than once an hour.
The news prompted Senator Al Franken to schedule a Senate hearing with the companies for May 10, and also led to a Federal lawsuit against Apple alleging the company has committed computer fraud and violated consumer’s privacy.
“I want to know whether consumers have been informed of what is being tracked and stored by Apple and Google and whether those tracking and storage features can be disabled,” Attorney General Madigan said. “It’s important that these companies ensure that their users’ private information is protected.”
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Perhaps she is unaware of Senator Franken’s hearings.
Much ado about nothing as far as I can tell
On a related note, Microsoft claims their Windows phones don’t collect user location data, because there is no GPS functioning in DOS.
“O, she is fallen into a pit of ink, that the wide sea hath drops too few to wash her clean again and salt too little which may season give to her foul-tainted flesh!”
Harry, how dare you taint the boards of cyberspace with anything that resembles literature!!!!!
How better to celebrate the anniversary of Shakespeare’s baptism with a quote from Much Ado About Nothing? :0
Anyway on this Twelfth Night of LocationGate “Still you keep o’ th’ windy side of the law”
Something tells me she’s going to have to broaden her reach…
Microsoft is too.
She is probably reaching for the Governorship.
It is time we tame this shrew.
Seriously, it is her responsibility to be a guardian for Illinois consumers. However, I would think it more fiscally responsible to wait for the findings of Senator Franken’s hearings.
This woman could care less about privacy! This is coming from the same woman that wanted to make public all details about anyone carrying an FOID card. What a nut! Seem like talking out of both sides of your mouth?? Now people know why Illinois is so messed up.
She (and, I suspect, Franken) believes that government should have a monopoly on privacy invasions.
It’s all politics. Politicians grandstanding and “getting tough!” for show. To Sir Flashman’s point that she should wait ‘till after Franken’s hearing, what, and miss out on all this publicity?!?
I can see it now. Some investigative reporter gets a hold of Attorney General Madigan’s and Rod Blagojevich’s iPhone location files, puts two and two together and…
Looks like she is trying to strangle somebody in the picture…
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